Letters To The Editor

BUSINESSS

Btu a harmful Trojan horse

We believe the Btu Energy Inc. plant and it’s undisclosed industrial plans for the land it has taken option on will change the quality of life in this entire community, county and city alike, forever.

As Rathdrum City Council members weigh the pluses and minuses, they should understand that the amount of money it could generate would mean too great a sacrifice for everyone here. They should find other smaller, cleaner industries to provide revenue.

Btu Energy made no guarantees as to the types of other industries it would bring in or about damage to animals, crops or people. And, of course, it couldn’t deny the devaluation of our property. Our resources, people, schools and community at large will forever and always be impaired.

Also, the water estimate was 800 gallons per minute (every day) of the year. This will be an astronomical drain on any water table (over 420 million gallons per year) and the added industries will need water and sewage too. Can we afford anything like this? The water farmers use is minimal and only for three months out of the year. Other states are trying to get our water, too. California is one.

This company needs us - we don’t need it. Dale and Shirley Arthur Post Falls

Crocodile tears add salt to wound

Before we proclaim Louisiana-Pacific Corp. the victim solely of raving environmentalists and federal government indifference and indecision, we should consider what hand the L-P corporate heads have had in their own company’s woes.

In July 1995, Harry Merlo, James Eisses and Ronald Paul, the three top executives of L-P “resigned.”

Donald Kayser, CEO temp, stepping out of “retirement,” noted in a letter to L-P employees that “Harry, Jim and Ronnie have all offered to make themselves available” during the interim.

The “retired” Mr. Kayser has been on the L-P board of directors since 1972, earning $20,000 in that position. In 1994, while bewailing falling lumber profits, Harry Merlo’s base salary was increased from $650,000 to $950,000. He also received $4,256,250 in L-P stock. He, of course, continued to enjoy the usual perks of a CEO the corporate jet, vacation condos and corporation-paid trips.

During this same two-year period, decreased wages, reduced or eliminated quarterly incentives and a reduction in insurance coverage were what many L-P workers got.

What heads rolled when Mr. Kayser stepped in? So far, those of 218 workers in Post Falls and Walla Walla. Marilyn Roberge Rathdrum

Misleading sign a disservice

On Sept. 15, a reader board message at Fourth and Appleway in Coeur d’Alene said, “Why aren’t our kids in school? Another day of dumbing down.” I have been asked by the Coeur d’Alene Education Association to respond.

On that day, the entire professional staff of Coeur d’Alene School District 271 was being trained to use a discipline method embodying accountability, consistency and zero tolerance of unacceptable behavior - a training brought by the board in response to appeals from the community and teachers themselves. (Unfortunately, state law makes it impossible for the district to conduct such a session prior to the first day of school, except at great cost to the taxpayers.)

Coeur d’Alene schools, repeatedly recognized for excellence, have been consciously and energetically working toward even higher levels of academic achievement. Meantime, financial support for education in this state remains exceedingly low, classes are too large and we turn no student away. Of course the district is not perfect, but the board, administration, staff and the association are all willing to take problem-solving approaches - like Friday’s inservice - to areas of need.

While we support this businessperson’s right to say whatever he likes on his reader board, we wish he would think and investigate before composing his messages. That way, he could stop being part of the problem and join with so many others in this community to support and, if need be, improve our public school system. Judy Hyatt, past president Coeur d’Alene Education Association

WASHINGTON STATE

Err on the side of agency, kids

For the life of me, I can’t understand the criticism of Child Protective Services. Too many kids have died in Spokane as a result of severe abuse. How much greater would that number be if CPS were more heavily regulated or restricted?

I’ve been a guardian ad litem for 11 years. We’re citizens who are excellently trained by the juvenile court. We are assigned to cases of alleged sexual or physical abuse or extreme neglect. We do extensive independent investigations of allegations and present our findings at the court hearing. We are a friend to the child.

We receive no money for our services. Our motivation is love of children. Our reward is the occasional happy ending. Never in my 11 years have I encountered a frivolous charge of abuse. Some people do unspeakable things to children in our beautiful community.

Some people feel the current system is unjust. I personally have never found this to be the case, but if in some cases it should be so, I feel an unhappy adult is certainly less devastating than a small child who is regularly raped or beaten to death. Sally Jackson Spokane

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Priorities check is called for

After reading another day’s editorial page with people outraged by the treatment of dogs at the racetrack, I wonder where is the same concern for all the people about to lose their low-income housing? There was a big story about that, too.

It’s no surprise that people care more about the dogs. There are images at stake and profits at stake. But there are no letters about all the folks about to lose their homes.

I guess everybody is waiting until the holidays to drag their conscience out and look concerned. Gina Poledna Dover

Unsafe street grates must go

I witnessed a boy in a neck brace being hauled away in an ambulance after the front wheel of his bicycle got caught in a street grate on 15th Street near the Interstate 90 overpass. It was the second time I’ve seen a bicyclist hurt after crashing at this particular grate. I saw a third person injured the same way at the Northwest Boulevard-Highway 95 intersection.

Fortunately, new street designs have the bars running perpendicular to the direction bicycles would be going. Newer streets tend to be wider, too. That gives bicyclists more room to maneuver. But what about the old grates that grab and injure young and old alike? Will the city correct this problem?

I often wonder how many other people have been hurt in this manner. The city must have some money somewhere in its multi-million dollar budget to improve or replace these dangerous grates. It would be a small price to pay to save our necks. Michael Murray Coeur d’Alene

Senators’ delay smells fishy

Like a bad dream, the proposed legislation to limit Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) financial responsibility for salmon recovery and exempt BPA from the Endangered Species Act won’t go away.

Initially this legislation was proposed by Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore., and supported by Idaho’s Sens. Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne. It was to be voted on in midSeptember. However, pressure by a diverse group of opponents shed light on how bad this legislation will be for Idaho. This pressure forced Craig and Kempthorne to shift from supporting Hatfield’s legislation to opposing it in “its current form.”

The vote on this legislation has been put off until Oct. 9. Will Idaho’s senators use this delay to hold meetings to gauge how Idahoans feel about the effects of this legislation? Or is this delay designed to kill the media and public concern that has built, and to draw public attention away from this issue?

Will Idaho’s senators regroup with their Washington and Oregon counterparts? Will we see Idaho’s senators walking in lock step with downstream interests, holding a glossy “new” version of Hatfield’s legislation? Only time will tell. Justin Hayes, scientist, Idaho Rivers United Boise

GRASS SEED FARMING

More to it than seed and smoke

One article this summer made mention of how “so few people benefit” monetarily from the grass seed industry.

What do they think grass farmers do with the income they make from their crops - sit on it?

Their grass seed dollars are spent in their communities. Money goes to buy groceries (we eat too), gas, cars, clothing, entertainment, educations, taxes, etc. Of course, none of that goes to pay your salaries. Wouldn’t it be interesting to dye “grass seed money” smoke gray and watch where all that money travels in a year’s time. I’ll bet some of it ends up in your pocket.

Another article said, “Asian markets benefiting from your ruined summers.” I’d like to ask, where did your lawn seed come from? How about the grass on your children’s school grounds, area golf courses, football and baseball fields, on the grassy swales that filter storm water run-off in the mediums of our city and county roads?

Oh, that’s right, it all came off the shelf at the store.

Go visit with the water quality people. Where’s the purest water in the aquifer - under housing developments? I don’t think so. Homeowners are the biggest abusers of chemicals and fertilizers that are polluting the aquifer. Homeowners do far more harm than farmers do.

Yes, we’re all a bunch of yahoos who live in this area. I guess the gentlemen (“Give back the beautiful sky,” Letters, Sept. 25) who moved here from the East and didn’t do any research on this area before moving is the biggest yahoo of us all. Karleen Meyer Rathdrum

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Withholding tax a rip-off

Several months ago, I sent a letter in asking why do we still have a federal withholding tax when it was started for the expressed purpose of financing the end of World War II. I further opined that if we taxpayers paid yearly (preferably on election day), that our political friends in Washington would be forced, because of the fear of angry voters, to resolve our fiscal crisis in one year, not the seven to 10 years as currently proposed.

We continue to send Washington, D.C., 15-22 percent of our weekly paychecks without receiving one cent of interest on that money. Then, through the most elaborate and confusing tax forms in the history of print, we have to substantiate in the most private fiscal areas why we should be given our money (which we have earned through our own toil and risk) back in the form of a so-called “refund.”

Am I the only one who views this as the bastard child from the great family of ideas spawned by Paine, Jefferson, et al.? R. LeFrancis Jr. Coeur d’Alene

Might be calm before the storm

Recently, you reported Congressman George Nethercutt’s interpretation of the slender negative reaction to the congressional Republicans’ initiatives on welfare, Medicaid and Medicare. He believes the comparative silence indicates wide public support. He is mistaken.

At this point, many people are misled by Republican claims. Sadly, protests are pointless since the congressional Republicans hold very firmly to their strange conception of the constraints and incentives experienced by the affected sectors of society.

The public can only hope this situation can be repaired after the 1996 election. Frank J. Kottke Spokane

Make COLA cuts across the board

We’re now beginning to hear commentary and debate on the possibility of “adjusting” the Consumer Price Index (CPI) downward, in order to shrink annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for retirees’ Social Security benefits.

I’ve long been an advocate of eliminating all COLAs until the national debt starts to go down, so I agree with the idea of doing something about the CPI or making COLAs less than they would be as a result of the full change in the CPI.

The operative word is “all.” I would absolutely oppose cutting or reducing COLAs for just Social Security, or just retirees in general. Virtually everybody who works for government gets COLAs. If any change is to be made fairly, it must affect all COLA recipients equally, retired or not.

Cutting COLAs for everyone would save billions of dollars and the effect would compound as the years go by. If we actually achieve a year in which the national debt goes down instead of up, we could allow COLAs in the following year again. Richard T. Brown Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Join in observing special week

This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week, which has been nationally observed since Congress passed a resolution authorizing it in 1987.

Local and national advocacy groups facilitated this public law which formally recognized the brutally stigmatizing nature and social and economic consequences that neurobiological disorders have on individuals, families and society. One of the original resolutions is most relevant as we enter the era of managed care: “Treatment of mental illness has been demonstrated to be cost-effective in terms of restored productivity, reduced utilization of other health services, and lessened social dependence.”

As budget cuts in all areas of research in neurobiological disorders loom, it’s vital that educational efforts and increased public understanding continue so that the shortsighted budget cuts of previous administrations do not repeat at the cost of millions of Americans.

The economic consequences of not treating neurobiological disorders are far greater to the individual, families and ultimately society.

We’re all directly affected by mental illness in one way or another, so I hope everyone will attend some of the many activities being offered this week. Robert Bjorklund Spokane

Keep personal touch with subscribers

I understand The Spokesman-Review is considering changing to a subscriber payment system that would eliminate personal contact between customer and delivery person.

In the past, I paid for my subscription by mail for six months to a year at a time. I greatly prefer monthly interaction with the person who comes to my house seven days a week. I include a tip with each month’s payment and give it directly to my carrier. Of course, you know that it’s during the early morning hours, when I am asleep, that the carrier makes my delivery. It’s nice to know who is coming up on my porch every day.

Things in our lives are impersonal enough. Won’t you please consider keeping the personal touch in your subscription payment system? Abbie J. Hirsch Spokane

Homeowner critic wrong, unfair

In response to Gary Belcher’s letter of Sept. 21, we fail to understand his criticism of our new home, which was featured in the Sept. 15 issue of The Spokesman-Review.

We didn’t get, nor will we receive, any tax breaks or subsidies. Neither he nor any other taxpayer helped support our building project. We feel his was an unfair accusation.

The letter’s headline, “Welfare for the rich,” is a false statement. Judy and Ted Anderson Hope, Idaho